Dow Sued Over Groundwater Contamination At W.Va. College

A West Virginia college this week announced a lawsuit against Dow Chemical over contaminated groundwater on its campus.

West Virginia State University alleged that Dow's plant in Institute, W.Va., leaked three potentially hazardous chemicals into nearby groundwater. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that the substances in question are 1,4-dioxane, 1,1-dichloroethane and chloroform.

University officials said that the chemicals do not pose a risk to human health and noted that groundwater is not used on WVSU's campus.

According to the paper, Dow found the chemicals during groundwater testing and informed the university four years ago when the college acquired property near the Dow plant.

WVSU said this week that it conducted further tests and continued discussions with Dow during the past four years, but that Dow "left us no choice" but to go to court.

"Dow must restore our campus to the condition it was in before this contamination and help us address the harm this will do to our image locally and nationally," said university president Anthony Jenkins. "Dow also must compensate us for the loss of use of our property."

The paper noted that past WVSU officials were critical of the plant's safety record and its previous stockpiles of methyl isocyanate — the chemical responsible for the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

Dow reportedly did not respond to requests for comment.

Several other companies that previously operated the plant near Charleston were also named in the lawsuit. The Gazette-Mail reported they included Union Carbide, Rhone-Poulenc, FMC Corp. and Bayer CropScience.